THE NEW MEDIA INSTITUTE

You do not have to look further than the morning newspaper to see how new media is changing our world. The Internet is shaping the way we learn, work, and play. E-commerce is changing the way we shop. Distance learning is causing universities to rethink how they reach students. Old line media companies are being acquired by online companies in some of history’s biggest mergers. And technology is coming to market that will allow you to connect with a world of knowledge no matter where you are.

These changes present opportunities for the University of Georgia, Athens, and Georgia. New media provides the opportunities for our students to develop exciting and rewarding careers. It provides the opportunity for Athens and Georgia to recruit profitable and desirable businesses. It provides the opportunity for UGA to enhance its reputation as a technologically sophisticated institution. In short, new media offers us the opportunity for our students, our university, our city, and our state to assume leadership roles in one of the world’s fastest growing fields. To realize the potential opportunities offered by new media, we are proposing the creation of a new unit at the University of Georgia, the New Media Institute.

New media is the use of technology to create a new communication experience. The Internet is today’s new media, but the next even newer media loom on the horizon. As long as humans seek new ways to use technology to connect with other humans there will be new media. The New Media Institute is an interdisciplinary unit dedicated to exploring these new ways of connecting. The New Media Institute’s mission is the exploration of the commercial, critical, and creative implications of digital media content. This strategic plan outlines how we plan to accomplish this mission and make the University of Georgia, Athens, and the state of Georgia leaders in the dynamic field of new media.

The New Media Institute’s strategic plan consists of five complementary objectives:

1. Prepare the people who will change the way we communicate.
2. Provide the resources to help new media grow in Georgia.
3. Improve UGA through new media systems.
4. Establish UGA, Athens, and Georgia as home for innovative new media content creation.
5. Provide educational resources for UGA and Athens.

Prepare the people who will change the way we communicate.

The challenge is not making new media work - anyone with a copy of The Idiot’s Guide to New Media can do that. The true challenge is making new media work for people. According to Zoe Baird, President of the Markle Foundation, we must ask, "How can we use this tremendous vehicle to deliver information in ways that will energize people [and] engage people to connect them to things that they really need in their daily lives?" Today the giant new medium, the Internet, with over 250 million people worldwide is still just exciting potential. The Internet’s greatest capabilities have yet to be realized. To realize the full potential of this medium, we must cultivate new ways of exploring it.

New media touches every aspect of our lives and impacts every field. Students and teachers must become adept at approaching new media from a variety of different perspectives. People with different roles (students, staff, faculty, business leaders), from different disciplines (at last count 22 different units from all over campus) and with different approaches (critical, creative, and commercial) will work together to develop and understand the communication systems that will change our lives. In the New Media Institute, different people will work in different ways to explore new media.

The New Media Institute will prepare tomorrow’s new media leaders through its curriculum and the experiences it offers.

Curriculum. The NMI will offer courses leading to certificates, and degrees to prepare new media professionals. Below is a brief list of the proposed curricular components of the NMI.

New Media Courses. Courses taught through the NMI will include technical training in the creation of new media content. But the NMI will also offer classes that examine the cultural, social, historical, political, and economic implications of new media systems.

The New Media Interdisciplinary Certificate. This 14-hour certificate program will allow students working in a variety of different fields across campus to augment their degree by developing expertise in new media.

The Masters of Internet Technology Degree. The NMI will partner with Computer Science and Management Information Systems to offer an intensive one-year technical degree designed to train workers for e-commerce careers.

The Humanities Computing Masters Degree. This graduate degree will focus on the use of new media technology in the areas of the arts and literature.

Experiences. In addition to the formal curriculum, the NMI will offer access to valuable learning experiences.

Service Learning. A prerequisite for completion of the New Media Interdisciplinary Certificate will be a capstone project. These team projects will involve working for a real client on a new media system. Through the NMI’s New Media Service Bureau, students will be assigned new media projects for the UGA campus. Through this service learning project, students will not only come to understand technology, they will develop an in depth understanding of the people who need and will use new media systems.

Business Involvement. New media businesses have much to teach our students - and much to learn from them as well. Businesses will be involved in the programs of the NMI through internships, lectures, and research projects. This close relationship between business and the Institute is reflected in the plans for a physical home for the NMI, which include space to be occupied by start-up new media companies. This close interaction between new media students and practitioners will allow us to prepare workers who understand how new media works in a commercial context.

Provide the resources to help new media grow in Georgia.

The NMI plans to help the state of Georgia grow into a hub for industry involved in the creation of new media content. New media content companies are desirable for several reasons: they work well in urban settings reducing sprawl, they are environmentally friendly, they support the arts community, and they have tremendous growth potential. The NMI plans to build a concentration of the two elements new media content companies need to grow their business: talent and ideas.

Talent. In its report on the future of electronic commerce, Georgia’s Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) noted that the 20,000 people currently employed in information technology will grow to 90,000 in the next six years. Georgia’s universities and colleges must produce more "technologable" workers. Dave Clauson, the Executive Vice President for Worldwide Marketing at Atlanta’s iXL, states that the new media industry is "people challenged" - the biggest limitation on new media’s growth is the ability to find talented and knowledgeable workers. Through its programs, the NMI will provide the workers new media companies need. This trained workforce will become a major incentive for companies to move to Georgia.

Ideas. The primary driving force in new media is not technology; it is creative ideas for the use of technology. Most new media companies start with a powerful idea. But many lack the ability to continue to generate groundbreaking ideas. The result is that over 90% of new media start-ups fail. The University of Georgia’s faculty is experienced in two of the primary means of generating ideas: research and experimentation. The proximity of a dedicated group of researchers focussed on the potential of new media will provide a further reason for a company should to locate in Georgia.

The New Media Institute will establish two mechanisms to guarantee that the education of talent and the generation of ideas are both relevant and supported.

The New Media Consortium. The New Media Consortium provides the mechanism for industry to participate in the programs of the Institute. Consortium members provide funding for Institute programs and receive in return access to expertise and talent. New Media Consortium companies will pay a one-time membership fees and make annual contributions to participate in Institute programs. They will provide insight on the research and educational programs most relevant to the new media industry. Through their participation in New Media Institute programs, Consortium members will improve the quality of their workforce, meet the next generation of new media leaders, and gain access to the ideas which will drive new media in the future.

The New Media Institute Board of Advisors. The Board of Advisors will be the NMI’s outside panel of experts. Advisors will come from industry, government, nonprofit organizations, and other educational institutions. The Board of Advisors will recommend policy, events, teaching directions, and research agenda to the New Media Institute.

Through the New Media Consortium and the New Media Institute Board of Advisors, the NMI will constantly reorient itself to the issues and challenges facing organizations using new media.

Improve UGA through new media systems.

The University of Georgia is a $3 million a day operation. As with any other institution or business of its size, UGA can benefit through effective application of new media technologies. But UGA is having difficulty adapting to the challenges of new media. Distance learning requires time-consuming planning and execution by skilled personnel. Electronic document processing can save our campus thousands of dollars a day, but it requires advanced knowledge of specialized technology. No academic unit can be taken seriously by a potential student or prospective faculty member if it does not have a well-designed and functional web site - but where are we going to find the people to build these sites? Like any organization, UGA has difficulty attracting and retaining trained new media professionals. However, UGA’s position is exacerbated by budget constraints - a public university will never be able to offer salaries competitive with businesses. As a result, our new media efforts are hampered.

The New Media Institute will offer a program to develop effective and professional new media systems for UGA while at the same time providing realistic learning situations for new media students. The New Media Service Bureau will be a division of the New Media Institute which will connect students completing certificates and degrees in new media with organizations on campus who need new media systems. The New Media Service Bureau will issue a campus-wide request for projects in the Fall semester of each year. The New Media Institute will evaluate each proposed project on criteria such as potential for advancing the knowledge of students involved, the need for the system, and the support available for the project. The New Media Service Bureau will then assign new media students to the projects. These projects will become the capstone projects for new media students. Through the capstone courses in the New Media Interdisciplinary Certificate and the Masters of Internet Technology degree, students will learn project management, team building, client relationships, and presentation skills. At the end of Spring semester, student teams will present their completed project to their campus clients. The New Media Service Bureau will provide a cost-effective way to expand and improve our essential new media systems while at the same time providing valuable and realistic experience for students. The New Media Service Bureau will be an important step toward meeting the challenges of new media at UGA.

Establish UGA, Athens, and Georgia as home for innovative new media content creation.

Developing a strong program in new media teaching is not enough. We must also find a way to let people outside the University know about our programs. The NMI will undertake programming which will publicize the activities of the New Media Institute and will gain exposure for the new media work of UGA students, faculty, and staff.

The NMI will host three events focussing on the creative, critical, and commercial implications of new media.

d.festival - The Digital Arts Festival will explore the creative potential of new media technology systems. This festival will showcase creative faculty and student new media work such as computer graphics, 3-D animation, theater, interactive installations, virtual reality exhibition pieces, new dance works, and musical performances.

The New Media Symposium will offer a forum for scholars to debate the impact and implications of new media technology. In keynote addresses and panel discussions, faculty, students, and visiting scholars will critically explore the social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of emerging new media systems and technologies.

The New Media Industry Day will facilitate interaction between the University community and new media commercial organizations. A day of presentations by academic and industry leaders will examine the trends impacting the new media economy. This event will also feature the presentation of the capstone projects created by students in the New Media Certificate program and a new media career fair.

The increased visibility afforded by these events will make UGA, Athens, and Georgia attractive to individuals and companies interested in working in new media. These events will improve new media study at UGA by making it easier to recruit high quality students and faculty. And the events will have positive economic impacts for Athens and Georgia because they will convince companies of the value of locating in a city and state alive with exciting new media activity.

Provide educational resources for UGA and Athens.

As computer technology proliferates, it is important that all members of society develop an understanding and working knowledge of new media and its tools. In addition to the specialized education it will provide to future new media practitioners, the NMI will also develop programs to help people in other fields learn to use new media effectively. Initially, the NMI will offer outreach to individuals without a specialization through the following programs.

Computer Literacy Courses. In 1999, the University began offering a one-hour Computer Literacy course designed to help incoming students learn about the computer resources available to them on campus. These courses provide learning experiences that can enhance a student’s performance in his or her chosen field. Currently this course is offered as a "university orientation (UNIV)" class without university credit toward graduation. This course will be moved to the New Media Institute where the focus will shift to the application of technology. In addition, the NMI will work to develop this course so that it can be used as credit toward graduation.

Athens Business Workshops. New media technology provides the potential to make businesses more effective, efficient, and successful. The NMI will offer workshops for local businesses focussing on appropriately implementing new media technology and business practices. These workshops will offer flexible learning opportunities designed around the special needs of business people.

Introduction to New Media. The New Media Institute will offer all students the opportunity to learn about new media through its large lecture class, Introduction to New Media. This class will provide an overview of new media technologies of yesterday (Old New Media), today (Now New Media), and tomorrow (Next New Media). The class will provide an introduction to new media technology and will help students develop an understanding the economic and cultural impacts of new media. This course will be designed to allow it to be used as elective credit for a variety of majors.

Honors New Media. The New Media Institute will also develop a course for the honors program specializing in the business applications of new media. This course will focus on how business are using and should use computer and new media technology.

These courses and workshops will help ensure that a variety of constituencies benefit from the expertise and efforts of the NMI.

Achieving these objectives will allow the New Media Institute to accomplish its goal of making our students, our university, our city, and our state national leaders in developing and understanding new media content.